Varsity Basketball have winning streak at Roundball Classic
Holiday break gave the Tigers another chance to experience playing unknown opponents and different types of scoring games. All good experiences as the Tigers will now wade into a very tough district schedule with many unknowns as well. The Tigers are really playing well at this time as demonstrated in the Fredericksburg Roundball Classic. They went 4-0 against their slate of opponents to bump their season record to 13-4. They would edge Granbury 38-36, then onto a 62-51 victory over Midlothian Heritage. The next day they would blow out Savio 90-59 before finishing with a 63-50 triumph over Huffman Hargrave.
From now on it will be taking on the business at hand, the district race. The Tigers took giant steps as they took on two of the district favorites, LBJ and Lockhart, and came away victorious to remain undefeated at 3-0. Their 15-4 record should also raise their stock in state ranking.
As the new year dawned, the Tigers took on the number ten ranked team in the state, LBJ, at home. Due to the weather and holidays, the game was moved up to an earlier start and this seemed to spark the Tigers to an early start themselves as they would hold a 20 point edge at one point in the game before nailing down a 63-55 win. LBJ likes to put the ball up but that is only good if you are hitting. As it turned out the Tigers showed their depth as different players took their turns at having good quarters to keep the pressure on. Enzo Arnold and Nick Statz led the charge in the initial quarter to give DS a 14-9 advantage after one. Threes by Arnold and Xavier Phillips extended that lead as the half ended with DS holding a 30-18 margin.
Alema Louis would add his spurt in the third and scores by five others pushed the gap to 49-32. Arnold and Phillips would make sure LBJ could not come all the way back in the final stanza as they fought to get back into the game.
Lockhart still may be a little over-rated, after years of being doormats in basketball. After a win over one of the favorites, Reagan, they have dropped their next two contests, one being the 50-33 loss to the Tigers. The depth of quality make the Tigers difficult to deal with. There seems to always be someone that will step up for a big game and make the difference.
The first half had some healthy scoring by both teams but the second half was slowed down. After finding themselves behind 8-6, the Tigers quickly went on a 10-2 run to command the first quarter 16-10 and really the rest of the game. Lockhart features a very aggressive defense but it was unable to put a dent in the Tigers offense via turnovers. At the break the Tigers had eased out to a 31-21 advantage. Scoring was at a premium in the third as the score only moved ahead 37-25.
The gauntlet will continue in this dangerous district as the Tigers hosted McCallum this past Tuesday and will go to Reagan tomorrow night. First round will be completed with Travis and Crockett and then it is do it all over again.
Vs St. Mary's Hall (lost 71-89): Arnold 18, Louis 13, Phillips 11, Connor Parks 11; Trace Young 8, Ben Bondurant 7, Kyle Rioux 3.
Vs Lanier (won 72-12): Phillips 14, Tyler Smith 8, Arnold 7, Rioux 7, Louis 6, Parks 6, Jayden Guevara 6, Colin DeWitt 6, Young 5, Price Siemering 5, Nick Statz 2.
Vs Granbury: Phillips 10, Arnold 8, Louis 6, Parks 4, Young 3, Smith 3, Statz 2, Siemering 2.
Vs Midlothian: Statz 16, Young 12, Arnold 11, Louis 10, Phillips 6, Parks 3, De-Witt 2, West Weichert 1.
Vs Savio: DeWitt 17, Arnold 12, Young 11, Smith 10, Guevara 9, Phillips 8, Louis 6, Siemering 6, Parks 5, Hayden Shields 4, Weichert 2.
Vs Hargrave: Arnold 14, Parks 14, Phillips 12, Louis 9, Statz 7, Smith 3, Weichert 2, Young 2.
Vs LBJ: Arnold 20, Phillips 13, Louis 9, Statz 7, Smith 6, Rioux 3, Bondurant 3, Parks 2.
Vs Lockhart: Young 16, Phillips 8, Rioux 5, Parks 5, Bondurant 5, Arnold 4, Statz 4, Smith 3.